Crashing New Years 2032
United Nations Plaza The United Nations has expanded vastly since becoming the official government for the entire planet Earth. While the actual structure of UN headquarters has changed beyond recognition, respect for tradition or simple nostalgia have kept most of the decoration here in the plaza as it was when the UN was first established decades ago. A curved row of flags stretches across the front of the complex. Once each nation represented within had a flag, but recently the UN's membership has grown so great that only the 'founding' nations are allowed flags. Other, less familiar decorations are placed here and there around the plaza...a small sculpture shaped like an Oriental building, a bronze statue of a human beating a sword with a large hammer, a shining model of the prototype FTL spaceship... BOOM!! BOOOOOOM!!! BOOOOOOOOOOOM! While some are wondering how many O's you can put in BOOM, others are content with watching the beautiful fireworks above New York City. The Big Apple is in celebratory mode tonight as humans eagarly await the New Year. With a huge group of New York's finest already spread out across the web-work of streets and bridges, most people feel relatively safe. And alcohol makes everything feel great, doesn't it?! Along with the humans in attendance, a squad of Autobots has made their way towards NYC for the onece-a-year-bash-of-bashes. "Yo guys! This place is absolutely ROCKING!!! Sweet!!" exclaims Jazz as he pops out of Porsche mode and stares up at the fireworks in the sky. "Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1999!! Time to pump up the volume!" The Autobot motions to the speakers that have been affixed to almost every lightpost in the city. The holiday season is in full swing and absolutely NOTHING could ruin a night like this.... Funny Jazz should say that... coincidentally, Motormaster is barrelling down the Brooklyn Bridge at eighty-five, shouldering traffic off either side of the bridge with his gleaming chrome grill. The lucky ones don't fall into the water. "The alliance of the craven Autobots and the filthy, crawling humans is nothing to be celebrated!" he booms to the other Decepticons over his radio. "Tonight will not be a night of 'celebration' to be remembered fondly! It will be a night of TERROR to be remembered in MOURNING BLACK. Decepticons... ATTACK!" Loadout, lacking a vehicular mode, had to settle for arriving 'on foot' so to speak. Of course he's not the only one, but he doesn't even have a mode with 'all fours' so he could move around more quickly, so he'd arrived a little earlier in the day to watch the preperations. Good thing that in this day and age, Autobot can walk freely amongst the humans, more or less. Just imagine if he'd been with the original band that arrived with Optimus all those years ago? Incapable of 'blending in' he would have spent an awful lot of time back at the Ark... "Impressive pyrotechnics, of course. But it seems to me that if the humans are to become a spacefaring race, is it not a little...odd, to keep a frame of calendar based around the yearly rotation of a single world?" Windshear has decided to go out and raise some slag. Grabbing Slugfest, the Seeker takes off to terrorize anythign he runs across. Heading over toward the UN plaza he drops down flying low. He remembers the place from a previous raid and figures this is as good of a spot as any for some destruction. Pretty boy Windshear transforms into a buffed steel Cybertronian Tetrajet. Andi Lassiter smiles up at Jazz, having arrived with the Autobot. She'd originally planned on staying home, but when the black and white mech and asked and begged and pleaded for her to accompany him (well, not really), so she came along. Slugfest oooohs as he peers down, and up, at the fireworks. "Pretty lights go boom!" he exclaims. "Us have fun and go down there?" he says. His little feets are on the console as he's perched in the pilot's seat, and his tail is wagging rapidly. And perched upon the Kenworth's trailer is the familiar tan and magenta form of Carnivac, cackling with glee at the terror wraught in Motormaster's wake. "Such a -shame- there's not much room for them to move away on a -bridge-, huh?", he remarks sarcasticlly. And adds his own little touch to the chaos by shooting at various vehicles with his anti-thermal cannon, causing them to stall out and the passangers having to flee from them before they're smashed through by the road raging Stunticon. "Whooohehahahaha!" New Years is something of a strange holiday, at least to Catilla. To a race that lives for thousands upon thousands of years, one more year was really just one more year, it wasn't much of a big deal to many. It never really occured to Catilla to celebrate one coming and another going. And yet these humans stopped their activities for one night to celebrate their existance on earth for another year. It really was fascinating. ... Not fascinating enough for him to be in the midst of one of the largest parties with the rest of the autobot squad, though. He had no issues with being among one of the ones keeping an eye on the celebrations from a distance. Catilla is very much there. A large, sabertooth cat lurks in the shadows atop one of the nearby buildings, tucked up behind a billboard that has some woman proudly declairing her love for Cocacola. Though one could argue that he has one of the better views of the entire city, having a perfect spot to view the fireworks as they burst overhead. It brings an amused smile to the pretender's muzzle, before he tilts it down to observe the other precedings. Until something causes him to pause, raising his head slightly. His ears swivel slightly, trying to hear something overthe din. <> He radios to the other autobots. The rest of the commotion just sounds like fireworks. Combat: Giant Sabertooth Cat slips into the shadows and out of sight... Loadout frowns as the warning from Catilla reaches him through the broadband. His optic visor pulsing once, then twice as he turns and peers off into the distance. His gaze eventually shifts towards the huge expanse of the Brooklyn Bridge, and the sudden chaos that is erupting across it in the form of a giant black semi truck and the hitchiking pretender wolf on the back. "Over there!" He calls out in a loud voice, suddenly pointing one finger over the heads of the crowd towards the source. And then the realization starts to set in as he looks around to the amassed humans, most of which who are no doubt oblivious to the chaos just yet. "If they get across the bridge to here, the following stampede and chaos could be catastrophic!" Jazz turns to watch the havoc taking place on the conveniently nearby bridge. <> Making his way through the masses of humans, Jazz looks over to a cop, "Hey man! If ya haven't heard, those Decepti-cawns are up to no good again! Get the word out and try to block off the area, we're gonna step up and be the bouncers for this rockin' shin-dig!" As the sounds of music continue to blast through the speakers peppering the city, it's hard to make out the sounds of destruction, but a few humans have taken notice and begin to wonder what's going on. Others near the bridge scream out as they run into the groups of unknowning party-goers. Quietly, Catilla begins to rise. The eyes of his helmet begin to flicker, passing through multiple spectrums at once until he settles on one that is least likely to be interefered with by the throngs of people below and the fireworks above. He keeps to the shadows, eyes focusing further out away from the actual festivities themselves, and in the direction that Loadout is pointing. Amplified by his helmet's sensors, he has a much clearer view of just what's out there. And what those explosions are. It brings a silent snarl to his muzzle <> He verifies, already moving along the roof. He leaps silently and with feline lightlness to the next roof, continuing until he feels he's far enough away from the festivities. He settles into position, leveling his cannon on the incoming decepticons carefully. Then he pauses. Ears swivel, and he glances aside briefly. <> Focusing back on his target, he levels carefully on Carnivac. And with a nearly silent whoosh of air, fires a shot of ultra-compressed air at the pretender wolf, intending more to knock him down off of his perch. Combat: Giant Sabertooth Cat appears from the shadows... Combat: Giant Sabertooth Cat misses Carnivac with his 'Welcome' to the party! attack! -3 Andi Lassiter notices Jazz's attention turn away from the partying and follows his gaze ... and gasps. She hastily digs her earpiece comlink out of her shoulder bag and puts it to her ear as she hurries to the same officer that Jazz just addressed. "EDC. You're going to need to get everyone evacuated from this area quickly and calmly." The Global Pose Tracker marks that Jazz has 'skipped' his action for this round. Topspin looks at Jazz, "This has got to be the lamest party ever! At least when the Wteckers party.. we shoot things and gamble, oh.. and we.. oh I'm not suppose to mention that other stuff." he coughs and goes to look for refreshments, "Do I really have to wear this silly hast?" he points to the gold paper top-hat atop is dome. Unpainted buffed steel Tetrajet has just done a flyby over a crowd of humans when, pulling up he notices several autobots. Changing course the Tetrajet heads straight for Jazz and drops down to a scary low flyby. And right as he goes over the Autobot, he kicks in his afterburners and blasts vertical. Combat: Unpainted buffed steel Tetrajet strikes Jazz with his afterburner delight. (Grab) attack! Woosh! The blast of air rattles some of the bridge's support cables, missing Carnivac only by the sheer velocity of his ride. "Thanks for the ride Moto, but I believe this is my stop." Giggling he activates his anti-grav thrusters and boosts himself into the air, coming to land on top of one of the main archways of the bridge, knocking over a holiday flag in the process. Then drops down on all fours to his mecha-wolf mode, optical band lighting up as he amplifies his vision a few times and scans over the skyline. Even with him coming out of hiding the distance and uneveness of rooftops makes the other Pretender a tricky target to pick out. "I spy with my little eyes~..." The rest of the sing-song is finished by a bolt of energy zapping from the wolf's optic band in the direction of where he thinks he saw the cat, a weaker version of his shell's eye-lasers. Carnivac drops to all fours, turning into a mechanical wolf. Combat: Mecha Fenrir Wolf strikes Giant Sabertooth Cat with his Mini Eye-beams (Laser) attack! A little stegosaur-cassette tumbles down out of the sky! Winshear must have cracked the canopy enough for Slugfest to slip outside. "EEEEEEEEEEE!" he shouts as he plummets. He may or may not fall on someone's head. Combat: Slugfest misses Topspin with his The sky is falling! And a piece of it fell on your poor little head! (Grab) attack! Kenworth K100 Aerodyne accelerates down the end of the bridge, barely braking for the offramp; he powerslides down it, in fact, to make himself a harder target. An EDC rapid-response infantry fighting vehicle dispatched from U.N. Plaza pulls into his way with sirens blaring, but Motormaster does not slow down for it. Combat: Kenworth K100 Aerodyne sets his defense level to Guarded. With a loud bang the EDC vehicle is spun aside, and Motormaster charges on towards the clear leader of the Autobot forces- Jazz! Combat: Kenworth K100 Aerodyne misses Jazz with his Offrampage attack! -6 Carnivac says, "So-oooooo... While I'm all for throwing our own type of party of chaos here, is that and busting Bots the only reason or did we come for something more?" As the shooting starts, Loadout finds himself amidst a sea of human bodies starting to move rapidly away in all directions, such that he has to step very carefully to avoid causing any injuries just through his size and trying to move around. It's chaos, and there's nothing that they can really do to deal with all the people around. All they -can- do is try to minimize the damage the Decepticons cause...except that he wouldn't dare open fire with his own built-in weapons and trust his aim. He can't even hold those weapon ports on his forearm steady under fire on his own, can he? Motormaster says, "Crushing the spirit of the enemy is its own reward!" Carnivac bwahahahahahs! "Works for me!" Motormaster says, "But if you should happen to see any valuables ripe for the taking, don't hesitate! I can carry a large quantity of treasure for our overlord." A sudden flurry of radio conversation meets his audials, and after a moment, he makes a decision. Albeit a VERY reluctant one. "Coming through, move! Careful!" Wading through the organic bodies, he comes to a halt next to one of those big armored police vans. You know, the kind similar to what Arnold hijacked in Terminator 2? "I apologize in advance for any damage!" Both hands grip the roof, and he starts to reconfigure and transform, crunching down on the roof of the human vehicle with a deafening *SHRIIIIIEK* of twisting metal. This isn't a Cybertronian he's merging with, so his body is kind of making some "adjustments' as it tears off a portion of the roof near the front as he transforms. In the end, the POLICE van suddenly has a huge turreted weapon on the roof, a console port having transformed into place just above the steering wheel of the vehicle, effectively turning the police vehicle into something with a huge gun that looks like it came out of the pages of Jase and the Wheeled Warriors. Generators coming online, the barrel swivels downwards in the general direction of Motormaster even as the siren on the van suddenly blares up with a deafening *WHOOP! WHOOP! WHOOP!*...all it needs is a triggerman. Or is that, a triggerwoman? Loadout's arms lift above his head, parts lock together and his torso spins about as he transforms into an imposing looking heavy cannon. Combat: Loadout takes extra time to assist Andi Lassiter's next attack. Topspin gives up looking for refreshments, just as the shooting begins, "Ah.. now we're talking.. THIS is a party!!" he pulls out his rifle and looks around for something to shoot. He spots a wolf, and "Hey!" he starts after the tetrajet but then he's stopped and is forced to jump out of Slugfest's way, He points his rifle at the tiny dino, "What the heck are YOU supposed to be?" just as he's about to pull the trigger, "Aw heck,, I ain't wasting good energon on you!" then he takes a few running steps towards the small dino and swings his ginormous foot at the tape! Combat: Topspin strikes Slugfest with his Kick attack! Slugfest says, "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Slugfest says, "No! AM! FOOTBALL!" Andi Lassiter is trying to hurry AGAINST the press of humanity to reach Loadout's position, and then the mech makes it easy for her to locate him. With a grin she squeezes past a group of partygoers and holds up her EDC identicard to the officers setting up barricades to keep people from going back into the now-cleared area. "Let me through to that gun turret!" The officer looks at her confusedly, then hears the police van's siren and turns to ... appear flabbergasted. She skirts past them and calls back "Thank you!" as she hurries toward the Loadout's ride. Carnivac says, "GOAL! Now spike him back!" Those fireworks that Catilla was admiring earlier are working against him. Trying to hide in the dark when they keep lightning up the area around him is a murder on his attempts to really be stealthy. And murder to himself, apparently. A hiss of pain gives away his position, twin pricks of light marking the point where Carnivac's eye lasers singed him. "You brought your own noise makers, hm? I knew you were a party animal." But after a second it really doesn't matter, because the cat isn't there anymore. Having lept down to the streets, he weaves between traffic deftly. Massive paws manage to avoid stepping on anyone, but it costs him speed. Yet it's more buying him time to compinsate for his first plan failing. Sensors are scanning over the bridge and Carnivac, studying how the bridge interferes with the wind currents, carefully analyzing Carnivac's movements. Jazz gets flung to the ground by Windshear's afterburner blast, "Yo jet man! Thanks for the blow dry! Next time, can you at least wash and wax me first?" The Intelligence Director doesn't have time to mess with flying Decepticons though. He's got the intimidating form of Motormaster to contend with. Leaping out of the way, Jazz /just/ misses out on becoming the Decepticon's new hood ornament. Looking to a group of New Yorkers that are still cheering and drinking their favorite adult beverages, Jazz motions away from the action. "Yo guys! Get to steppin' before you're the ones that are gettin' stepped /on/! Get to safety!" Withdrawing his trust rifle, Jazz reiterates the same command he shared with his team over the radio recently. "Slow down that big lug and get him off the road!!" Focusing his targeting visor on one of Motormaster's huge wheels, the Autobot lets loose with a few bright blue blasts. Combat: Jazz sets his defense level to Guarded. Combat: Jazz strikes Kenworth K100 Aerodyne with his Solar-Powered Photon Rifle attack! -1 Carnivac says, "Be careful guys, that one that turns into a gun can really pack a punch" With a sharp BLAM one of Motormaster's front tires blows out! He responds by transforming, feet scraping sparks off the pavement as he loses speed. Grabbing a lamppost, Motormaster spins around it to check his momentum, rips it out of the ground and charges back towards Jazz with it cocked back over his shoulder like a baseball bat. "Windshear, Slugfest! DEAL with that turret-Autobot and the human! I will break their leader over my knee!" With a loud clacking and grinding sound, Motormaster pulls himself up into his grim humanoid form. Combat: Motormaster sets his defense level to Aggressive. Combat: Motormaster strikes Jazz with his Lamp'd! (Kick) attack! "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!" Poor little Slugfest gets kicked like the extra point at a football game. He falls against the side of a building. Fortunately he doesn't fall completely over onto his side. "ME NO AM FOOTBALL!" he says. He looks around for his punter but can't find him. So he does what Motormaster tells him and goes for Loadout. The angry little Stegotape tries to tapdance all over the melded Loadout/Van contraption. Combat: Slugfest misses Ion Assault Cannon with his the pitter-patter of little FEETS! (Kick) attack! Mecha Fenrir Wolf 's motions aren't hard to follow. From Catilla's point of view (and the camera for the viewing audience at home) the faint outline of the wolf on the bridge tower in the distance can be seen as he leaps off of his perch and disappears past the top of the angle of view. The view is clear for a few moments after that, though the crackling of some sort of noise can be heard off-screen. And then the giant Pretender wolf comes -slamming- to the ground back into view much closer, Carnivac's usual manic grin plasters across its oversized jaws to show plenty of sharp teeth. "Now isn't this a grand way to kick off the new year, eh 'old friend'?" He grabs a parked car in his teeth by the front end, the occupants having just scant moments to throw open the doors and dive out as he picks it up, and throws it haphazardly down the street in an attempt to throw off Catilla's aim. Bit of metal and sparks fly as it clatters and skids across the pavement. Carnivac is sealed within his Pretender shell, becoming a giant biomechanical wolf. Unpainted buffed steel Tetrajet isnt even bothering with the autobots after his flyby over Jazz. No.. he loves blowling over humans and thats what he concentrates on at this point. Heading down toward a crowd of sceaming humans the Tetrajat does another flyby. New Yorkers run screaming in all directions from the biomechanical horror that is Carnivac! Somehow he's much scarier in his shell. It might be the hair. Combat: Giant Armored Timberwolf strikes Giant Sabertooth Cat with his It's not a party without COLLATERAL DAMAGE! (Kick) attack! Topspin has disconnected. Andi Lassiter reaches the police van turned gun turret and clambers into the driver's seat -- and she hopes she doesn't have to drive the thing. Whistler would do a better job at this point. Slugfest's attack takes away her options, though and with a yelp of surprise she scrambles to start the van. Proving her warning against the thing being a standard transmission, the van LURCHES a few times as it accelerates away from the steggy-con but stalls again before it gets more than a hundred feet away. Taking what she can get, Andi leaves the van stalled and takes a quick second to familiarize herself with the weapons controls, slightly amused at their similarity to some of the medical equipment in the repair bay, then she tries to NOT think cheesy Al Pacino quotes as she aims it at Motormaster and triggers the firing sequence. To some, Catilla might be considered a bit too... ferocious in his methods of rending apart decepticons. But there's one critical thing that makes him an autobot. Eyes narrow, still analyzing Carnivac's movements as he hefts up the car. Quickly calculating the trajectory, he lunges himself forward... Not quite trying to avoid it. Instead, he puts himself between the car and a bus with people quickly trying to get out and away. Claws swipe out, attempting to bat away the incoming car, but all it manages to do is change its trajectory slightly, with the front of the car smashing down on his head, causing a ringing sound when it bounces off of his helmet. But it doesn't bounce into the bus at least. What a way to ring in the new year. Catilla shakes his head quickly, trying to shake off the ringing in his head as a result of the impact. "Next time, 'friend', send a card," He mutters, steadying himself. Back legs bunch up, faux muscles tensing. And abruptly, he lunges himself at Carnivac with all of his back legs strength. It might not reach up to the hundred plus miles per hour that his shell is capable of, but it certainly results in those claws and fangs coming at Carnivac very quickly and with a lot of force. But has the smack to the head addled his targeting systems? Somewhere Alex Rodriguez is sulking as Motormaster puts his batting skills to shame. Jazz gets slammed right under the chin and gets sent soaring through the firework-lit night sky into a parked TV news van. After a second off-line, the Autobot's internal systems bring him back to life and he scrapes himself out of the crater he's created. "Sorry about crashing your live shot guys! I said I wanted to be on TV, but not /on/ a TV van! This is ridiculous!" Picking up the van's broken satellite dish, Jazz takes aim at the Decepticon Bambino. "Yo man! You may be the Sultan of Swat, but I'm the King of Swing and you're goin' down pal! Take a seat!" Rearing back, Jazz jumps forward and sends the dish hurtling through the air like an over-grown frisbee. A older man walks by with a bottle in a brown bag and takes a swig. He croaks, "Now this beats any fireworks show! Get em! Get em!" wn bag and takes a swig. He croaks, "Now this beats any fireworks show! Get em! Get em!" Combat: Giant Sabertooth Cat strikes Giant Armored Timberwolf with his Rending Old Aquaintences You Can't Forget attack! Combat: Andi Lassiter strikes Motormaster with Ion Assault Cannon 's Did I do that right attack! Combat: Jazz misses Motormaster with his Satellite Dish Frisbee (Kick) attack! Windshear vanishes out of reality. Windshear has left Ion Assault Cannon gives an audible, "GAACK!" as the van does a start-stop start-stop start-stop motion to get him clear of Slugfest's attention...at least for the moment. Then about that time, Andi is manipulating his controls, which he's tried to make about as usable for tiny human fingers as he can. There is a whine of something akin to hydraulics as he spins in place, the barrel lowering, then drawing a bead on teh Stunticon leader. And then? He does what he does best in this form, much as he may hate it. Something to keep in mind is that even by Autobot standards, Loadout's alternate form is a heavy assault weapon. What does that make him by human standards? The entire van suddenly starts to rattle worse than an Earthquake as Loadout's barrel spews forward a hailstorm of Ionic bolts, aimed just high enough to put Motormaster in danger, but soar over the heads of nearby humans harmlessly. The heavy *BUDDA BUDDA BUDDA BUDDA* fills the entire area with a thunderous roar of discharge as the poor Police van bucks and wobbles as it undergoes stress that it was never designed to take, the windshield even exploding outwards in a spray of shattered glass. Loadout has little time to worry about it, however, focused on the Decepticon tape coming his way as well. "Oh for the love of...STAY AWAY, you! Enough! Go bother someone else!" His generator hums away powerfully the whole time. Energy is no longer a problem, afterall. Combat: Ion Assault Cannon takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Poor little stegosaur didn't get to tapdance on the van! Or Loadout. He takes a run at the Van again even as it's eratically driven. This time he tries to saw into the Van, and perhaps saw Loadout right out of it! "Me cut you out of there!" he says. Combat: Slugfest strikes Ion Assault Cannon with his Just Call Him Chop Shop! attack! -4 Motormaster throws the ruined lamppost through the front of a movie theatre, grinning malevolently as he advances towards Jazz. The TV truck's dish comes winging towards him, but he catches it like a frisbee and holds it up like a shield against Loadout's barrage! Although flashy, this move does him little good- the caliber of the Autobot heavy gun is just too great, and the ion blasts punch through the satellite dish as if it was stretched fabric, driving Motormaster back with the barrage of impacts. "Hngh! Windshear, where have you gone? Bah, seekers! I would even prefer a Battlecharger right now!" Winding up like a discus-thrower, Motormaster slings the satellite dish back towards the Autobots, trying to bank it off of Loadout and into Jazz! It's hard to tell if that was just the way events unfolded, or if Carnivac planned for Catilla to throw himself into the line of fire to protect the potential human casualties. Those that know him know there is still cunning behind that wild grin... but the Pretender's wild and unpredictable nature makes it hard to tell when it really is at play and when it's just coincidence. Either way he growls as the slightly smaller feline pounces on him. He doesn't feel much from the attack, but it's clear those nasty claws did something wicked as they tear into the armored harness around his torso, even cutting chunks of it and his spiked pauldrons off. "Aaaw, you missed me after all." A brief flash of red can be seen as he fires his eye lasers into Catilla's midsection, hoping the kickback would be enough to knock the feline off again. Combat: Motormaster misses Ion Assault Cannon with his Frisbee Wizardry (Ruckus) Area attack! Combat: Motormaster strikes Jazz with his Frisbee Wizardry (Ruckus) Area attack! Combat: Giant Armored Timberwolf strikes Giant Sabertooth Cat with his If Looks Could Kill attack! -1 Alright so maybe Jazz isn't joining the Autobots' Frisbee Golf Club anyday now, but at least he still looked cool missing Motormaster with a satellite dish. Turning his attention back to the news crew, Jazz flashes a grin, "How's that for givin' you guys the breakin' news?! Tell your homies on TV that this area should be evacuated ASAP! Ya dig?! Oh and tell 'em Jazz said WAAAZZZZUUUPPP!" Back to the matter at hand, the Autobot watches as Andi and Loadout give Motormaster a face full of BLAM (as Warpath would say). <> Suddenly, Jazz is caught distracted as he can be sometimes. As a result, he doesn't see the TV Satellite Dish flying back at him until it's too late. "Man...I'm so cool I rocked that dish like a boomerang!" Having no choice but to crank up the party, Jazz transforms into his alternate mode and he immediately makes a bee-line for Motormaster. "Yo Big Ugly! Happy New Year!! Let's bring in 2032 with a SOUND and LIGHT SHOW!! Zooming past the Decepticon, the Porsche circles around in tight turns, hoping to disorient his foe. Break it down! With a flurry of sounds, Jazz drops down into a Porsche 935 Turbo. Combat: White Porsche 935 sets his defense level to Neutral. Andi Lassiter gasps and hangs onto the van's driver's seat as the cannonfire turns the entire vehicle to one of those shake-a-tron carnival rides. And then before she can fully recover from getting her teeth rattled there's the horrid screeching of a chainsaw cutting into metal. But wait, she KNOWS someone with chainsaw plates. Looking around hastily, she spies one of those industrial strength MagLite flashlights and snatches it up, starting to unscrew the battery case. "Hey! Hey! Who wants a battery?" She probably sounds INSANE to Loadout, but she's hoping the steggy hears her and responds appropriately. Combat: White Porsche 935 strikes Motormaster with his Sound and Light Show attack! Combat: That attack has temporarily impaired Motormaster's Agility. (Crippled) Ion Assault Cannon lets loose with a pained, "GAH!" as sparks fly, some of it from that section of the police van's hull being sheared off, and of course the blades biting just a bit into his thick barrel-shaped body section. Part of the roof buckles a bit, causing the barrel to swing wildly to one side, and JUST miss as the makeshift 'frisbee' goes flying past overhead, arcing around to make contact on Jazz. But for now, Loadout is grumbling at his current situation...and the fact that he isn't being fired again? And now Andi's playing with batteries? "What in the world of...." He starts, but doesn't finish the thought, just continuing to build power. Imagine a big energy cannon set on 'charging' mode and it's momentarily been discarded/forgotten...it just sits there and keeps gathering power. Scary thought, perhaps? Combat: Ion Assault Cannon takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Combat: Andi Lassiter takes extra time to steady herself. Pass Fireworks of a different sort light up Catilla's hide. The blazing eye lazers burn into his fur, singing away bits of armor and fur. A pained yowl is enough to suggest that the burning gaze hit its mark. Catilla is sent backwards several dozen feet, even though his claws try to grab into the pavement and keep him from moving. "Sure. About as much as I miss cyberfleas," He rumbles, ears pinned back against his head. Behind him, his tail begins to snake out, extending outwards subtly until it coils around the midsection of one of those vacated cars. At first, he seems to try to rush right into Carnivac again, lunging forward. Only to stop again abruptly, turning abruptly. At the same time, his powerful tail hefts up the car. Using the momentum of the lunge, it lashes the car forward, attempting to bring it down on top of Carnivac. "So much that I brought you a present." Combat: Giant Sabertooth Cat sets his defense level to Aggressive. Combat: Giant Sabertooth Cat strikes Giant Armored Timberwolf with his Do Not Open Until Christmas! (Kick) attack! Motormaster claps his hand to his face, stumbling in confusion as he is dazzled by a rockin' new year worthy of Dick Clark himself, courtesy of Jazz! "Cowardly trickster!" Motormaster bellows, outraged. "Stop dancing around and RECEIVE your BEATING!" Taking his hand away from his eyes, they blaze to life, twin pencil-thin lasers searing out of them and sweeping towards what he thinks is Jazz as he tries to defend himself. Combat: Motormaster sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Motormaster's Optical Heat Rays attack on White Porsche 935 goes wild! Combat: Motormaster strikes Slugfest with his Optical Heat Rays (Laser) attack! YEEK!" Slugfest hollers. The attack that sears his side didn't come from the unfriendly side! "Who done that?!" he snaps, and turns to see Motormaster. "ME KNEW IT! ME KNEW YOU WANT GET RID OF ME!" He runs crying towards Loadout, revving his chainsaw blades. At this point he's taking out his temper tantrum out on the vehicle. Combat: Slugfest misses Ion Assault Cannon with his Stego Temper Tantrum! attack! -4 KACRUNCH! The car slams down on top of Carnivac courtesy of Catilla's tricky grappling tail. The car is left in a wreck and crumpled, and after a bit of rattling about the trunk finally pops open for Carnivac to shake his loose. "Now I know why when dogs chase cars they don't -catch- them." It takes a bit more of squirming and some biting and clawing to pull himself loose from the wreck. "Daaaw, I'm touched." And then dissolves into his usual cackling as his hydrolic leg boosters kick in, sending him lunging at Catilla to try and clamp his jaws down on the cat's neck! Meanwhile, one of the party DJs catches sight of Jazz's insane light and sound show. "Oooh yeah, lets give this fight club show a proper beat!" Quickly he switchs the tracks on his system, and cranks out something suitable to go with the Bot's flashing lights and wild sounds. o/~ Oh oh oh oh! Evacuate the Dancefloor! Oh oh oh oh! I'm infected by the sound! Oh oh oh oh! Stop this beat is killin' me! Hay Mr. DJ let the music take me underground! o/~ Combat: Giant Armored Timberwolf strikes Giant Sabertooth Cat with his Predatory Leap attack! -2 Slugfest then hears the call for a battery. "Me want battery!" he says, perking up! This distracts him from destroying the van! Oh thank the gods, it's working. Andi hastily pulls a D-cell battery from the flashlight and shows it to Slugfest. "I have four of them... stop hurting this van, please? I'm worried I'll drop the batteries." She then tries to prove that female humans are master multitaskers by trying to key another firing sequence into Loadoutcannon's control panel while still showing the battery to the steggy. Please oh please let this work... Combat: Andi Lassiter misses Motormaster with Ion Assault Cannon 's you didn't see this sluggy attack! -6 Round and round Jazz goes as his dizzying display of lights and sound even make the drunken spectators look away for a bit. One of them takes another drink from his bottle, "I've got a pack of smokes on that number 4 car!" His friend answers right back, "I don't know...that wolf over there looks pretty pissed off!" Exploding upwards, the Porsche transforms back into robot form and Jazz is quick to stay on the offensive as Motormaster still appears to be stumbling around. <> Taking the bright flash across his blue visor as an answer, Jazz lets out a fist pump into the air. <> In the blink of an optic, a silver-tipped missile appears on the Intelligence Director's shoulder. Motormaster shouldn't be too hard to hit right now, but with all the fireworks and weapons blasting all around, Jazz hopes his tracking system doesn't go hay-wire from sensory overload. "Come on baby light my firrrrree!!" Get on up! The Porsche 935 Turbo explodes upward into Jazz, Autobot Rock Star! Combat: Jazz sets his defense level to Fearless. "And yet dogs never seem to learn to not chase cats," Rumbles Catilla in vague amusement, his tail unraveling around the midsection of the car. The amusement is short lived though, as he is practically knocked into the ground by the force of Carnivac's lunge. The bus that he had been trying to protect earlier is flattened under their combined bulk; but thankfully all of the passengers managed to get out just after the first failed assault. Flesh and armor of his shell are torn away as he struggles, paws trying to find some sort of purchase. Though while Catilla appears to be trying to muscle his way out of the throat lock, his cannon shifts on his back. He rolls his shoulder, the cannon leveling down on Carnivac. There's little warning aside from a whoosh of air as the cannon charges, then unloads, launching several shots of compressed air in quick succession, seemingly on the beat. Point blank, they have a bit more of a knockback, and Catilla is probably hoping to throw him further up the street towards the bridge. Combat: Giant Sabertooth Cat sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Giant Sabertooth Cat strikes Giant Armored Timberwolf with his Concussion Cannon attack! -1 Combat: Jazz strikes Motormaster with his Missiles Are Kinda Like Fireworks attack! -2 Ion Assault Cannon 's sensors are WELL aware of Andi trying to play the hypnotic dance game with keeping Slugfest's attention, and to say he's uncomfortable with the close proximety of what he would classify as one of the Decepticon's mechano-vermin would be an understatement. Even he's caught by surprise however as he's swivelled about, somewhat on an angle given that both of the van's tires have exploded on one side and it's alignment is just a weee bit twisted out of whack, but still pointed in Motormaster's general direction as a lower-yield blast is let loose from the tip of his barrel. Unfortunately the angle may have messed up the aim a bit, as the sizzling ball goes screaming past the Stunticon commander's head in short order, though it certainly falls into one of those 'HI I HAVEN'T FORGOTTEN YOU!' sort of attacks. Well if Slugfest is going to be busy salivating over batteries, Loadout isn't about to test that theory for the moment. While part of his AUTOBOT INSTINCTS says he shouldn't be leaving a human in the company of a Decepticon, there's still others who need help too. Sure, Motormaster and Jazz are still dancing, for example. But he knows that the Stunticon can really hurt when he hits someone, and it could turn out bad for Jazz shortly. But right now, he suddenly transforms, bolting upwards from the wrecked van and caaaarefully tiptoing away from Slugfest so as not to try and draw his attention in the wrong way. As he goes, he growls to himself and tries his best to patch up the rend in his armor as well where the chainsaw blades hit earlier. The cannon splits at the muzzle and the stock, spinning in the center and unfolding into the Autobot Loadout. Combat: Loadout sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Loadout quickly patches up some of his minor injuries. A roaring fireball blooms on Motormaster's upper chest as the incendiary rocket strikes true, staggering him back into a neon sign. Sparks fly as he crushes the sign with his back, then pushes himself off the building and falls forward onto his face. Is he down? Did Jazz beat him? Not yet- he's transforming! Slugfest happily grabs and noms the battery, feeling the slight electrical charge flow from it through his mouth. He completely forgets why he's there. He just gums that battery contentedly, wagging his tail. Combat: Slugfest takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Rearranging himself with a loud grinding sound, Motormaster transforms into a piece of large industrial machinery sporting a menacing crane. Combat: Hydraulic Press sets his defense level to Fearless. Slugfest totally doesn't notice Loadout sneaking past him, btw. A crane swings out from the minibase suddenly sitting in the middle of Times Square, electromagnet humming as it pursues Jazz from above. "I've had enough of your CLEVER TRICKS, Autobot!" rumbles Motormaster's voice from the crusher, under the sound of the gnashing grinder-wheels spinning up. "It's high time I SNUFF your LIGHT." Combat: Hydraulic Press misses Jazz with his Car Crusher attack! Wham bam thank you ma'am! as the saying goes. The combination of close-quarters and highly pressurized air doesn't give Carnivac a chance to let go and move out of the way at the same time, despite his ears picking up the split-second warning of the cannon churning up. The blast not only gets him to let go, it knocks him clear across the area to crash down on some more fortunately abandoned vehicles. He growls and grumbles a bit as he starts to get up... and then does something that might be a bit unexpected... he transforms and lands on his feet as a robot as the biomechnical shell disappears back into subspace. The manic grin returns to his face as he cracks his knuckle servos together, crinks his neck and starts to stalk back towards Catilla slow and ominously as he begins a rambling sing-song. "Define your meaning of fun... to me its what we're gettin' done! I feel the heat comin' off the blacktop so get ready for another one... Let's take a trip down memory lane, the words circlin' in my brain. You can treat this like it's all the same but don't cry like a b**** when you feel the pain!" His footfalls pick up the pace as he goes from stalk to mad dash. "This is hardly worth... fighting for." And then aruptly he brings out his cannon and blasts away at Catilla even as he's barreling madly towards him with the cackling rambling. "But it's this petty little **** that I can't ignore!" Carnivac flips up from his grinning mecha-wolf mode into his manic robot mode. Combat: Carnivac sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Carnivac strikes Giant Sabertooth Cat with his Anti-Thermal Cannon attack! Andi Lassiter can't help but smile a bit at Slugfest ... or is she smiling at the success of her distraction? Difficult to say. Regardless, she watches the steggy contentedly gum the battery, staying where she is with the flashlight ready to offer the dinocon a second one to hopefully keep his attention away from the combat surrounding them. Combat: Andi Lassiter takes extra time to steady herself. Pass Loadout is just lifting his tool arm, the spark of the welder dying away as he nods with some satisfaction at where the rend has been sealed over. Just then he looks up as Motormaster transforms, watching the crane arm swinging around, and that electromagnet hovering overhead along with the menacing car crusher below. To say Loadout isn't happy about the idea of one of the Autobots -he- would be patching up being subject to that thing is an understatement, and a moment later he's pushing himself forward at a run, picking up an abandoned motorcycle without a second thought and hurling it at the magnet, not to do any damage but to deflect it to one side and give the other Autobot some room. "Watch out, Jazz!" He lunges in a moment later and almost seems to do a shoulder-tackle to help get the other Autobot out of the way. It's more than that, of course. He's already transforming, Jazz's right arm is already disappearing, and the Cannon is already taking shape as the Autobot Saboteur is suddenly hefting the extra weight of extra firepower under his command. Add that to the fact that the little red targeting laser suddenly illuminates and paints the stunticon's base form, and one knows EXACTLY where this is going. "This is getting to be a HABIT, Motormaster!" He states with no shortage of irritation in his voice. Loadout's arms lift above his head, parts lock together and his torso spins about as he transforms into an imposing looking heavy cannon. Combat: Loadout takes extra time to assist Jazz's next attack. Jazz looks up at huge car crusher and he's certain to be its next meal! At least until the cartoon goes to commerical break. Once things are back after mindless car dealership dribble, the action continues and Loadout heroically saves Jazz from becoming grinder bits. "Yo man!! Thanks for gettin' my back man!" That's when the Autobot notices he's hefting a new piece of weaponry on his right arm. "Sweet! This is like the Power Glove™ or something! Let's get this goin' Game Genie!! Let's show that sorry excuse for a paper shredder who's bad!" Bravely....or stupidly bolting back into harm's way, Jazz smoothly tumbles forward into a roll before he comes up on one knee and lets loose with a barrage from his friend. "Up with hope and down with you Decepti-dope!" Combat: Jazz sets his defense level to Guarded. Bits and pieces of pretender shell are ripped off of Catilla's neck when Carnivac is thrown away from him. The entire thing is appearing entirely beaten up and torn, with singe marks here and there and some considerable hunks missing. But it's still moving. Warning alarms blaring in front of Catilla's eyes are starting to suggest that it's time to pull out of the shell, but Catilla starts to struggle to his feet anyway. Just in time to get a face full of anti-thermal cannon. He yowls in pain and confusion as ice begins to frost up his visor. The impact on its own causes it to glitch, but drawing the heat out of it causes it to short out entirely. Ice gathers around his face, his front fangs appearing a bit more like icicles than anything else. More worrysome is that Carnivac is still coming. The downside to fighting Carnivac, is that the wolf knows Catilla's weaknesses. Knows how when things become chaotic, he struggles to to keep a grip with his panic. Now, that panic begins to rise, esspecially now that the feline lacks the guidance of his helmet's sensors. Frustrated, he yanks the helmet off with a paw, only to get a good view of Carnivac running head on at him. "Singing now. Are you getting sentimental?" He rumbles, pain evident in his shell's rough voice. Suddenly, the shell is gone, peeling away from him and disappearing amongst his subspace storage. As he rises into his robot form, an arm reaches out to lift up a large lamp post. He twirls it once, then levels it up against a shoulder. And as Carnivac gets close enough, he takes a step forward, and attempts to bring it to bear against the wolf bot's midsection with all of his might. Catilla unfolds from his mechanical smilodon mode and stands up, concussion cannon in hand. Combat: Catilla strikes Carnivac with his SWING and a (Kick) attack! Combat: Jazz strikes Hydraulic Press with Ion Assault Cannon 's Ionic Blast attack! -5 With a loud clacking and grinding sound, Motormaster pulls himself up into his grim humanoid form. "All done!" Slugfest says, dropping the battery once it's drained of charge. "Moar!" he clamors and wags his tail, demanding the next battery already. Once Andi gives him the next battery, he also noms it contentedly. The Global Pose Tracker marks that Slugfest has 'skipped' his action for this round. Motormaster tries to transform and get out of the way, since Loadout foiled his attempt to grind Jazz into easily-recycleable portions, but it's too late, and he's too slow, and Jazz is too good. Motormaster can only raise his arms to block his face, and gets big chunks of armor shot off of both forearms in the process. "One of these days, Autobot!" It's not clear if he's addressing Jazz or Loadout. Maybe both. "One of these days one of us will catch you alone! And that day will BE your LAST!" With a powerful rocket-assisted leap, Motormaster springs onto the Flatbush building and clambers up it with his oversized arms. "Decepticons, we have done enough here! Retreat!" Motormaster takes a running start and jumps across the street onto another rooftop before he disappears from view. Combat: Motormaster sets his defense level to Protected. Combat: Motormaster begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Catilla, Jazz, Slugfest, and Pyramid Fighter It doesn't help Catilla that Carnivac is about as chaotic as they come. Though that shot to his helmet was just a -little- too acurate to just be random luck. Sometimes one has to just stop and wonder... Though it's hard to do so when his charge gets interrupted mid-way through by the loud clang of being slammed across the chest with the post and knocked on his aft. Skidding to a stop, he sits up and looks around... and notices the dinotap snacking on batteries. "Hey, break time's over little chopper!" As he gets up he snatchs up Slugfest by the tail. "Let's start this new year off right.." He dashes towards Catilla again, swinging the little stego like a weapon. "With a MASSACARE!" Motormaster's retreat command comes a moment too late, he's already in middle of a bloodlust moment. Combat: Carnivac strikes Catilla with Slugfest's Dino Chainsaw Massacare! attack! Carnivac semi-snaps back to reality after his attack. ".. Whu wha? Leaving already? Aw, this was just getting gooood." Ion Assault Cannon kicks back as Jazz pulls his trigger, and even though he lets loose with a mid-range blast, it's no less impressive in its own right as he slams back against Jazz's hold. A thin tendril of smoke starts to rise into the air after the shot, even as his generator starts to set into a dull hum, idly replenishing his reserves again at a much more liesurely pace. Hard to think that not all that long ago he would have been barely conscious after a series of blasts like that. Motormaster's words, if they were aimed at him, are certainly ominous, to say the least. "...I would NEVER give him that satisfaction." He grumbles, his systems display panel flashing in time with his voice as he remains locked over Jazz' arm for the moment. "Unlike some I have no desire to be some lone hero." Combat: Ion Assault Cannon takes extra time to steady himself. Pass Soundwave has arrived. Soundwave walks into the area. Andi Lassiter is just about to offer a second battery to Slugfest when the steggy is suddenly snatched away by the tail. She yelps in surprise and momentary alarm, then looks after the Decepticon who's now swinging the dinocon about like a real chainsaw. Sadly, there's a whole lot of no...wait. She digs in her shoulder bag, then pulls out a laser scalpel and sets it to max cutting strength basically turning it into a short knife on a long handle. Finally stepping out of the mostly mangled police van, she takes a moment to aim, then throws the laser scalpel at Carnivac. And prays to Primus that it makes a difference. One of the drunken men pulls out a crumpled pack of cigarettes, "Alright...alright..here's your friggin' smokes! Guess that Number 4 guy got the best of the other big killer!" His friend gladly accepts the winnings with a tip of his brown bag special, "Now that's something I can drink to!! Happy New Year sucker!! Hahaha!!" The two old timers stumble off into the darkness as the action reaches the homestretch. And that's just when Jazz decides to help out his teammates that are still under attack. "Yo you Decepti-dorks! Didn't you hear the big guy tell you guys to bounce?! You guys must have your audio receptors clogged with motor oil or something! Here, maybe /this/ will give you bozos a clue!" Jazz levels Loadout at Carnivac and Slugfest, "No big deal Loadout! We're both heroes! And now we're /both/ about to show these dudes that listenin' to their commanders should be their New Years resolution!" Combat: Jazz sets his defense level to Fearless. Combat: Andi Lassiter strikes Carnivac with her noisy cricket (Laser) attack! -1 Combat: Jazz strikes Carnivac with Ion Assault Cannon 's Ion Rapidfire Area attack! -2 Combat: Jazz misses Slugfest with Ion Assault Cannon 's Ion Rapidfire Area attack! -2 A massacre is pretty close. Catilla flings the bent up and now useless light post to the side as he starts to approach Carnivac, hands balled into fists. "Time to leave, Carnivac. You've well outstayed your welcome," He snarls, raising a fist in preparation to bring it down on the wolf bot's head. Only to find that Carnivac isn't alone anymore. He has a chainsaw. And that Chainsaw rips right through Catilla's arm like butter. It continues on, digging a deep gouge into his side. Luckily it doesn't go too deep to suggest that he's in danger. But it's enough that when Catilla is thrust aside from the impact, there's energon leaking. He hits the ground at a roll, finally ending up on his back. A grunt, as he reaches with his other hand to stem the flow, sparks rising from where his other arm was. "Not the best way to start the new year," He mutters, struggling to pull himself up to his feet. Only he doesn't have much luck, only managing to get up to one foot before sparks start to come from one overstrained leg as well. "I think this must be some sort of sign of bad luck with the humans." Slugfest squeals as he's interrupted from his battery snack and is wielded wildly! "EEEEEEEEE!" he exclaims. He's really too surprised to say much else. Fortunately any other attacks seem to miss him. The Global Pose Tracker marks that Slugfest has 'skipped' his action for this round. From behind a pillar in the plaza, a dark shape shifts, becoming a taller, more humanoid form. From the shadows steps Soundwave, the Decepticon communicator. Moving in between Catilla and Carnivac, he grabs Carnivac by the arm holding Slugfest. "Cease action, Carnivac. Retreat has been signaled." There is a bright yellow glow in his eyes, as he lets go of the Pretender's arm, moving out into the battlefield, and lies down cover fire for the other retreating Decepticons. Combat: Soundwave strikes Catilla with his Full-Auto Area attack! Combat: Soundwave misses Jazz with his Full-Auto Area attack! Combat: Soundwave strikes Ion Assault Cannon with his Full-Auto Area attack! Slugfest says, "BAWWWW SOUNDWAVE MOTORMASTER SHOOTED ME! HIM TRYING GET RID OF ME!" Carnivac harharhars loudly as Catilla falls over with his arm chopped off, holding up Slugfest so he can see their handiwork. "Look look, we dis-armed him! Hahahaha!" But the joyous little moment is about to get interrupted. Zoom in reeeeeeal close of the laser scalpel striking Carnivac in what would be the toe, leaving a tiny little scorch mark and not seeming to do much. Until the camera pulls back out to the whole scene again to show Carnivac letting out a yowl of surprise, jerking up the offended foot and hopping on the other one. "Ow ow ow!" Then turns with the hopping to come face to face with the cannon being leveled in their direction... Unfortunately (for him), Soundwave appears like the sneaky bastich he is and grabs the dino-holding arm, preventing him from dodging. The best he can do is turn so he takes the shots blowing chunks of armor out his back (and a sharp eye might notice its because of the claw marks. Catilla cut that deep even if he didn't do much direct damage). "Geez! Warn a guy before you do that!" Despite which Carnivac is all manic smile and cackles as usual. What he did to Catilla is too amusing to be otherwise. "Oh well, party's over I guess." He drops Slugfest in Soundwave's arms, tranforms into his more nimble wolf mode and takes off, taking a few leaps and bounds through the piled off traffic and vehicles hoping the Autobots won't try to chase or shoot farther at him. Motormaster says, "You would not run afoul of stray lasers if you spent less time begging trinkets off the humans and more time avoiding my line of fire!" Carnivac drops to all fours, turning into a mechanical wolf. Combat: Mecha Fenrir Wolf sets his defense level to Guarded. Combat: Mecha Fenrir Wolf begins retreating, leaving himself vulnerable to parting shots from Pyramid Fighter Motormaster has disconnected. Soundwave says, "Trinkets - these will be discussed, Slugfest." Slugfest says, "No had trinkets till after him shooted me!" Carnivac says, "I used Slugfest to rip Catilla's arm off to make up for it" Slugfest says, "At least Carnivac no want get rid of me!" It had been one heck of a year and the new year was just underway. Luckily for Jazz and his teammates, 2032 had started off with a victory of sorts. While there were many signs of destruction all around, it could have certainly been worse had the Autobots and Andi Lassiter not stepped in to protect New York City. Jazz wipes his hands clean as he finishes wielding Loadout's powerful mode. "All in a day's wor...HEEEY!" he calls out as Soundwave appears from the shadows with his guns blazing. "Hold your fire Bots!! Let the fourth member of the blue man group get his pet and leave! It's time to get back in PARTY MODE!! Yeaaa!!" In the distance, you can still hear the sounds of humans celebrating New Year's in other parts of the Big Apple. For those that have stuck around, they've just witnessed something that Dick Clark or any other TV station couldn't offer. A good ol' fashioned episode of Autobots saving the day. For Jazz, it's time to celebrate and he makes for the nearest dance party, eventually getting lost in the crowd. Andi Lassiter's eyes go wide when Soundwave suddenly appears, knowing that he's one of the rare mechs that will not only listen to reason, but he'll also go right ahead and pull the wings off of the proverbial butterfly. She runs for the relative cover of a nearby car, and then notices Catilla down and 'bleeding'. Crap. Keeping an eye on Soundwave and Carnivac, she hurries over toward the Pretender in hopes of being able to help. Slugfest yays as he's left in the care of his Tapedeck parent. "See? Me cutted up cat-bot! Had fun! No thanks to Motormaster." The little tapedino scowls in the direction that the Stunticon Commander fled in. "Us go home nao?" Ion Assault Cannon detaches from Jazz's arm as the other Decepticons retreat, prompting him to transform at the same time as he lands with that heavy *THOOM* of impact. Keeping a wary eye on the retreating Decepticons, he makes his way over towards where Catilla went down, quickly inspecting the pretender bot for the damage he's taken. Luckily, it's his mechanical self that needs the help and not so much his organic self this time around...which means he falls squarely into Loadout's expertise. "Well we can get you patched up until you can get back to the repair bay..." He says evenly, deploying his medical tool-arm as he swings in to start filling holes where he can. The cannon splits at the muzzle and the stock, spinning in the center and unfolding into the Autobot Loadout. Combat: Loadout quickly patches up some of Catilla's minor injuries. Andi Lassiter reaches Catilla just in time to ... stop and watch Loadout do what she was about to do. "Um...anything I can do to help? It doesn't help Catilla's situation very much when additional laser fire bursts up around him. He ends up taking another bolt in the shoulder, even as he's just struggling to get back up. But luckily, it only burns a minor hole in the other shoulder, not the already injured arm. Brows drawn together, he snarls silently at the reatreating Carnivac. Or at least tries to. It comes off as a pained, annoyed look than any sort of frightening looking snarl. After a few seconds, his systems begin to reroute energy throughout his system. The energon flow ceases, and his other arm stops sparking. But he still has a somewhat pained look to his expression. "Careful, Andi." He nudges his head down slightly. "Energon, don't touch it." Luckily, Loadout is there to take care of at least some of the damage quickly. He holds still, despite his fingers of his still attached arm twitching in irritation. "Thank you, Loadout. I let my guard down." "... Can you find my other arm?" He asks after a moment, looking at Andi. "I seem to have lost it among the trashed cars." Soundwave glares through the smoking debris at the Autobots, his optics glowing brightly. "Beware." he says, before stepping into the thick vapor and disappearing. Loadout looks over the patchwork job, then nods. "Once your arm has been located we can take it, and you back. And then if so desired, I'm certain Ms.Lassiter can assist in putting you back together properly. I suppose that organic...shell of yours will need a treatment in that solution that was come up with as well." Andi Lassiter nods to Catilla, then after a moment can't help but laugh -- perhaps a bit hysterically. "You got disarmed, Catilla." But then Soundwave reminds her that he's here and she goes pale. CREEEEEPY. "Yes, and I could really use a hand," Catilla says, levely. Though whether or not he's actually realized what he said is hard to tell. Fingers clench into a fist as he eyes Soundwave, but luckily Mister Creepy doesn't decide to stick around for long. With a grunt, Catilla begins to rise. It takes some effort, but at least his legs don't seem very damaged save for one overstrained knee joint. "I'm not sure that's how humans 'ring in' the new year."